Major champions paired at PGA; Woods with Phil, Harrington

Bubba Watson, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy have been paired together for next week's PGA Championship.

The Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship winners will tee off round one at 1:45 p.m. ET on Thursday on the first tee at Valhalla Golf Club. They will start round two on No. 10 at 8:35 a.m.

Four-time champion Tiger Woods will play with 2005 winner Phil Mickelson and 2008 champ Padraig Harrington. They start Thursday on the 10th tee at 8:35 a.m. and begin Friday on the first tee at 1:45 p.m. Woods beat Bob May in a playoff the last time the PGA was held at Valhalla in 2000.

Those two groups will be the headliners each afternoon, but there is plenty of firepower surrounding them.

Woods' group plays in the midst of plenty of star power. Starting at 7:45 a.m. Thursday are two-time major champion Angel Cabrera, two-time winner this season Patrick Reed and Hideki Matsuyama.

They are followed by 2003 PGA winner Shaun Micheel, Senior PGA champion Colin Montgomerie and Michael Block. Up next will be four-time major winner Ernie Els, Victor Dubuisson and Rickie Fowler, who has finished inside the top five in the first three majors this year.

Jordan Spieth, world No. 1 Adam Scott and Lee Westwood are next at 8:15 a.m. The group before Woods includes three-time winner this season Jimmy Walker, Ian Poulter and two-time U.S. Open runner-up Jason Day.

Following Woods' threesome will be 2010 U.S. Open champ Graeme McDowell, Brandt Snedeker and Brooks Koepka. They are trailed by Miguel Angel Jimenez, 2011 Masters winner Charl Schwartzel and 2003 U.S. Open champ Jim Furyk. The run of big names continues at 9:05 a.m. off the 10th with Matt Kuchar playing alongside 2013 U.S. Open titlist Justin Rose and 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.

This year's major winners also have plenty of big names surrounding them as well. Two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton is paired with Jonas Blixt and 2012 U.S. Open winner Webb Simpson at 1:05 p.m. Thursday on the first tee. After them will be Gary Woodland, Graham DeLaet and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson will play the opening two rounds with 1998 PGA runner-up Steve Stricker and two-time runner-up Sergio Garcia. Playing in front of this year's major winners will be Henrik Stenson, Ryan Moore and local favorite Kenny Perry.

McIlroy's group will be followed by three of the last five PGA Championship winners - Jason Dufner, Y.E. Yang and Keegan Bradley. Next up is Luke Donald playing with another local favorite J.B. Holmes and Francesco Molinari.

Former Masters winner Zach Johnson will tee it up with Richard Sterne and 2011 Open Championship winner Darren Clarke.

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